Out Of Ashes Review

Released: Oct 13, 2009Genre: Post-grunge, hard rock, alternative rockLabel: Warner Bros. RecordsNumber Of Tracks: 12
I love the way Bennington has made his side project sound compeltely different to Linkin Park which I think is very important.

Out Of Ashes
Reviewed by:
Smokinjoerules1, on july 02, 2010 1 of 2 people found this review helpful

Sound: Chester Bennington (Linkin Park) described this album as a more Grunge-y approach to music and his own songwriting, I agree with him this album has taken a Grunge approach. I would say that album itself is probably half grunge half soft rock and mellow tunes actually, of which the mellow songs I prefer.
The overall sound of the album is in fact excellent! Different for Bennington, but fantastic!
01. Fire: probably one of the best songs on the album as far as sound is concerned. A steady progressive intro leads into an all round excellent song, the chorus probably being the best part of the song! A heavy guitar mixed with reverbed vocals make for a brilliant song and would probably do well in the charts as it isn't too heavy. 5/5
02. Crawl Back In: this was the first song I heard off the album and was quite impressed by it and still am. This track is one of the Grunge based tracks on the album, and although I'm not a fan of Grunge music, it's an impressive song (as are all the Grunge based songs on this album).
A heavy guitar riff, great chorus, catchy guitar solo and great screams from Chester yet again! 5/5
03. Too Late: another one of my favourites on the album, this song is beautiful and meaningful all throughout. Again another reverb based song with more mellow guitar parts used, yet still managing to sound excellent!
And yet again the chorus of the song is one of the best parts of the song! 5/5
04. Inside Of Me: begins with a typical Grunge-y riff and catchy verses and guitar parts make this track stand out. Although not quite as good as the previous three songs, it's still very good. 4/5
05. Let Down: quite an electronic and keyboard based song, especially at the begin. This song is another mellow song that shows off Chester's soft vocal side again. And again, the chorus is very good. 4/5
06. Give Me Your Name: Doesn't start amazingly but ends up being one of the best mellow songs on the album! Soft and acoustic based with effect-heavy guitars in the background. I think the chorus is exceptional, there's just something about it that makes it so beautiful, which in turn gives the song a lot of meaning and relaxation. 5/5
07. My Suffering: a fast pased grunge song with a very catchy drumbeat and guitar riff at the begining of the track, resulting in quite a heavy and screamed based track! A track for Chester to show off his screams. 4/5
08. Condemned: a very rhythmic song especially toward the choruses and the end of the song and another heavy track for Chester to show off his screaming ability and the guitarist Amir to show off his guitar abilities! 4/5
09. Into You: the only song on the album that I don't particulary like because the chorus sounds too much like track six which lets it down, the song itself on its own isn't bad though. 3/5
10. End Of The World: a very different sounding song, probably more mainstream rock. With different instruments palying a different times throughout, it makes the song sound repetitively fresh if that makes any sense haha! 5/5
11. Walking In Circles: in the top three songs from the album in my eyes. Very acoustic and synth based with simple but effective lyrics and enough bass to back it up. These two ending tracks are the most eerie on the album so for me making them excellent, this song even has a guitar solo in it. I love this song! 5/5
12. In The Darkness: the second eerie track to finish off a great album! With some kind of weird synth put on the vocals at first, it makes the intro very interesting indeed. Another great mellow track to end a great album! 5/5
Track 9 is the only reason why this section does not get a 10/10. But this album still sounds spectacular! // 9

Lyrics: As usual for Chester he puts a lot of thought and meaning into his lyrics, instead of just finding words that rhyme with each other.
The lyrics fit perfectly with every song, no matter how good it is, and every song has a different theme, for example 'Walking In Circles' has lyrics in it that represent someones view of hell whereas 'Let Down' describes the singers fight against something that we don't know, anyone could interpret it in any way, that's how good a lot of these lyrics are on the album!
Chester Bennington's vocal skills haven't changed at all going from one band's album to another, he sounds exactly like he does in Linkin Park which is great! He makes lyrics in track 6 "... and I fall into the ocean", (which are basic lyrics) sound beautiful. // 10

Overall Impression: Since I can't compare this album to a previous album because this is Dead By Sunrise's first album, I will compare this to Linkin Park. I think Chester has formed a band to rival his other band. This album is better than Hybrid Theory in my opinion, simply because I love nearly every song on this album, on Hybrid Theory there's a few I don't like. The best songs on the album have to be: "Fire", "Give Me Your Name", "Walking In Circles" and "In The Darkness". But there all good. I love the way Bennington has made his side project sound compeltely different to Linkin Park which I think is very important. If it were stolen I'd set my dog after the theif, if anything I think it's worth getting this album insured haha! I simply love this album so much! Buy it now, Linkin Park fan or not! // 10

i agree with this review in almost everything.
bue there are somethingsi don't agree, like "give me your name" and "In the darkness" are not some of the best songs, because...i don't know, i just don't like them that much. And into you is one of the best in the album.
Also i don't agree when you say that it Chester sounds like he does on Linkin Park, because that is totally not true. In dead by sunrise his voice is very different, the pitch in the songs, the accentuation in certain words, and theres is something that it's very diferent form Linkin Park in his voice, it kind of sounds weird, but in a good way.
I still prefer Linkin Park but i am also a fan of Deadby Sunrise, and this was a very good premier album.

One just has to look at the difference between the reviewer's rating and user rating to see how horribly wrong the review was.
I can't believe you think this is better than Hybrid Theory. Hybrid Theory was unique, everything about this album is dull and overdone.

I didn't mind this album. 9.7 is way too high, but I think a 3 is a little low. I'm thinking something more middle. It's rather generic, but somehow I like it more than the last Linkin Park album... though that's no great feat.

i loved this album... the guitar where a bit better thought out than linkin park, i also thought that this album had a eighties sound to it. if this was coming from an unknown band(and if linkin park never existed) this would probably have gotten better reviews. and i agree this album is more original than hybrid theory.

That's called "elitist bashing". It's where dozens of people who have never heard the album in question rate the album down because of the context it is associated with, in this case, Linkin Park, which many elitists despise.

jetfuel495 wrote:
That's called "elitist bashing". It's where dozens of people who have never heard the album in question rate the album down because of the context it is associated with, in this case, Linkin Park, which many elitists despise.

I know what you're saying, I always feel like giving it a 10 out of 10 whether I like it or not. Just to screw with them.

"This album is better than Hybrid Theory in my opinion"
i understand this is your opinion, but a vast majority of everyone else who has listened to both albums believe otherwise. it seems to me an attempt to get people to buy the album when they will regret it.

i enjoy listening to this album like i enjoy listening to mike's solo stuff and linkin park, i think the user rating of 4.5 is yes just elitist bashing (as stated above) so i think those who rated it down can go piss off and actually listen to the album before rating down for no reason, i personally believe the album deserves an 8.5 because not all the songs sound as good as some of the others.

Fabrizet wrote:
"This album is better than Hybrid Theory in my opinion"
i understand this is your opinion, but a vast majority of everyone else who has listened to both albums believe otherwise. it seems to me an attempt to get people to buy the album when they will regret it.

I can see where you're coming from dude, but I didn't actually put that so ppl will buy it, I put it there cos thats wot i think about it.

Jesus why are a lot of people being so critical bout this album. It seems to me a lot of 'DIE HARD LP' fans don't like this album, so if ur a 'die hard lp fan' then dont get this album, cos all u'll do is just moan.

AlexRB wrote:
One just has to look at the difference between the reviewer's rating and user rating to see how horribly wrong the review was.
I can't believe you think this is better than Hybrid Theory. Hybrid Theory was unique, everything about this album is dull and overdone.

I'm not a die hard Linkin Park fan, and I'm not a hater, either, but I really didn't like this album. I really wanted to; I thought Crawl Back In and Fire were two really great songs. I just felt like they were the only two good songs on the album. I guess I'll give it another listen...

OverUnderOnward wrote:
I'm not a die hard Linkin Park fan, and I'm not a hater, either, but I really didn't like this album. I really wanted to; I thought Crawl Back In and Fire were two really great songs. I just felt like they were the only two good songs on the album. I guess I'll give it another listen...

If u really feel like u dont like it after about 3 listens chances, r, ur not gonna, i didnt think a great deal to it after 1 listen but by the 3rd listen i loved it XD